Volkswagen Diesel Fix Deadline Is Just Two Days Away

Thursday, the automaker is scheduled to go before a U.S. District Judge and update its plan to fix hundreds of diesel vehicles that don’t meet U.S. emissions standards. Those plans could impact 600 lawsuits that could go to trial as soon as this summer.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco is overseeing those 600 owner lawsuits along with VW’s progress, which has been seemingly at a snails pace considering the scandal broke over six months ago. The issue is how to fix VW’s diesels with defeat devices that cheated U.S. emissions tests, and thus U.S. emissions laws. The scandal broke last fall after VW confessed.

The judge set the April 21 deadline for the company to submit a detailed plan.

As VW preps for Thursday’s hearing, Automotive News reports that VW doesn’t “believe” an expedited trial will be needed after the company gives the update, according to a company meeting ahead of Thursday. Those lawsuits are essentially “dependent on the status and progress” of VW’s fix proposal.

Meanwhile, VW dealers aren’t happy either. Earlier this month, a family of VW dealerships filed a lawsuit against its parent company over the diesel-cheating scandal.

Overall, the cheat device was used on 11 million vehicles worldwide. The automaker’s already worked out a deal to fix TDI’s in Europe. It’s been trickier to do so in the U.S., especially California. Some California regulators suggest there isn’t even a fix available that will make the TDI vehicles compliant with California law.